Why don't we trust climate scientists? | Leo Hickman | Environme. An iceberg melts in Greenland in 2007. A new study shows 97% of climate scientists agree that we are changing the climate. Photograph: John McConnico/AP Trust is, perhaps, the most important word within the climate debate at present. "Who do you trust? " is the question that hangs over every discussion on the topic. Do you trust the vast majority of climate scientists who claim that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are causing a clear and present climatic danger? Or do you trust the much smaller band of sceptical climate scientists who argue that there isn't a problem? In much of our lives, we rely on the testimony and views of experts. Climate science is a little different, it seems.
But an interesting new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences throws some new light on the "expertise gap" that some within the climate debate have noted exists between the two increasingly divided factions. The study shows, however, that this is not the case. Bee decline could be down to chemical cocktail interfering with. A cocktail of chemicals from pesticides could be damaging the brains of British bees, according to scientists about to embark on a study into why the populations of the insects have dropped so rapidly in recent decades. By affecting the way bees' brains work, the pesticides might be affecting the ability of bees to find food or communicate with others in their colonies.
Neuroscientists at Dundee University, Royal Holloway and University College London will investigate the hypothesis as part of a £10m research programme launched today aimed at finding ways to stop the decline in the numbers of bees and other insect pollinators in the UK. Insects such as bees, moths and hoverflies pollinate around a third of the agricultural crops grown around the world. If all of the UK's insect pollinators were wiped out, the drop in crop production would cost the UK economy up to £440m a year, equivalent to around 13% of the UK's income from farming.
How to Grow Potatoes in a Garbage Can. Health | Untidy beds may keep us healthy. Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe. Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies. A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.
The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites. The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on scales of human skin and produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep. The warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for the creatures, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in shorter supply. 'Small glands' The scientists developed a computer model to track how changes in the home can reduce numbers of dust mites in beds. Building features such as heating, ventilation and insulation will also be altered to monitor how the mites cope. Are vertical farms the future of urban food? | Environment. The vaults rose up as high as the city walls, bearing reeds richly bedded in bitumen and gypsum.
The layered galleries peered each beyond its neighbour to reach the sunlight, and water drawn from the river was pumped through conduits up to the highest level. The topsoil was thick enough to root even the largest trees... These were the renowned Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as described by the Greek historians Diodorus and Callisthenes, and the earliest example of vertical farming – at least according to Dan Caiger-Smith. His company, Valcent, is taking the concept into the 21st century, recently launching the first farm of its kind at Paignton Zoo in Devon. It's a beguilingly simple idea: make maximum use of a small amount of space by filling glass houses with plant beds stacked high one above the other.
Financial and environmental pressures on modern agriculture have sparked new interest in vertical farming. "It answers so many of the big questions of the future", says Caiger-Smith. Interview: Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan, tall, fit, not quite skinny but very definitely lean, is holding a fruit yoghurt in one hand and a bottle of Coca-Cola in the other. "So," he says, "which do you think, per 100 grammes, contains more sugar? " The Coke, I reply. Duh. "Wrong," he says. "The yoghurt. And look, it's low-fat. Isn't that great? It's a nice illustration of Rule Nine in Pollan's magnificently sensible new book, Food Rules. His reasoning: if you remove the fat from a foodstuff, it doesn't necessarily make it non-fattening. Pollan, award-winning author, journalist and campaigner, is on a mission.
The Rules spring from two unarguable facts (facts so unarguable, in fact, that even the biggest food multinational would have trouble contesting them). So why are we all eating ourselves to death? "We don't talk about food any more," says Pollan. This all has the crushing logic of truth. But the complication of food has been under way for a long time now. Is that process reversible? Clean water bottle wins UK leg of James Dyson Award. 4 August 2010Last updated at 00:16 Tim Whitehead is now in the running for a £10,000 prize A bottle that uses ultraviolet light to sterilise drinking water has won the UK leg of the James Dyson Award. The Pure bottle is the brainchild of Timothy Whitehead, a design and technology graduate from Loughborough University, who had the idea while travelling in Zambia.
It eliminates the need for chlorine and iodine tablets which take 30 minutes to work and can leave an unpleasant taste. The invention will now go forward to the awards' global final in October. Mr Whitehead said: "I thought that there must be a way of using new technology to clean drinking water. Saving lives The water bottle contains two chambers. Once filtered, the water is sterilised by a wind-up ultraviolet bulb in a process lasting 90 seconds. A prototype was effective in killing 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. "It has the potential to make a real difference to people's lives. " Three quarters of employers 'require 2:1 degree' 6 July 2010Last updated at 15:23 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent Simon Prince has not found work, despite having a 2:1 degree and experience Intense competition for graduate jobs means that more than three quarters of employers require at least a 2:1 degree grade, a survey suggests.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters says there are more graduates chasing fewer jobs - with vacancies down by 7%. Applications have soared, with an average of 69 people chasing each graduate job. In response, 78% of employers are now filtering out applicants who have not achieved a 2:1 degree. About two thirds of students achieve either a first class degree or a 2:1 - so this means the remaining third, who will still have passed their exams and paid their tuition fees, will not even be considered by these employers. "While this approach does aid the sifting process it can rule out promising candidates with the right work skills unnecessarily," says the AGR's chief executive, Carl Gilleard. Nceivable ideas: meet the modern sperm donor | Life and style |
When you sit on the loo in Ed Houben's tiny bathroom, there's a postcard at eye level that says "Welcome to Maastricht". It's decorated with dozens of smiling tadpole-shaped creatures homing in on the words with cheerful intent. It's a little touch to make his visitors smile; after all, most of them are here for Ed's sperm. Houben has been donating sperm for more than 10 years now, first at the local sperm bank and then, after reaching the clinic's legal limit, privately via the internet. Most of his donating is done in his neat, modest flat on an estate on the outskirts of the Dutch town. The T-shirt he's wearing, which declares "Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, anyway", is actually a bit misleading.
"In the old days I would gladly travel, and my colleagues covered for me if I was late to work," he says. "But my job at Maastricht's tourism office has changed and I have to be around much more. And they do, from all over the world. And it is not only risky for women. Expert credibility in climate change — PNAS. Nvenience food changes could save 'thousands of lives' | UK news. Tens of thousands of lives could be saved if major changes were made to processed and convenience foods, the UK's leading health watchdog will say today, challenging the government and the food industry to act to improve the nation's diet.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) will say in a major hard-hitting report that diet is not just a matter for the individual consumer. In what will be interpreted as a significant attack on the food industry, it recommends a series of changes, including: • A total ban on trans fats. • Halving the individual daily salt intake. • Legislating if necessary to encourage manufacturers to slash the content of hidden saturated fats in all food products. • Ensuring low fat and low salt foods are cheaper than unhealthier versions. • Banning television adverts for high-salt and high-fat foods before the 9pm watershed, to protect children. • Urging local councils to forbid take-aways and junk food outlets near schools.